Lawyers For Teen Charged In Teacher Slaying Want Trial Moved

Lawyers for the Massachusetts teenager charged with killing his math teacher have told a judge that they plan to seek a change of venue for the trial.

Denise Regan, a lawyer for 16-year-old Philip Chism, told a judge during a status conference in Salem Superior Court on Thursday that she will file a motion asking that her client's trial be moved out of Essex County.

The Salem News reports that Regan has not yet filed the motion, but a hearing is now scheduled for July 6. The trial is scheduled to start in October.

Chism is charged with murder, rape and robbery as an adult in the October 2013 slaying of 24-year-old Colleen Ritzer, his math teacher at Danvers High School. Chism was 14 at the time.